Your first real professional project was with Beyoncé?
I am from Houston, Texas, so we all kind of came up together in the music scene out there. There was this program called the Sammy Davis Jr. Awards and we came up through that. I was a senior in high school and she was a freshman, and she would tell her dad all the time, “I want to produce songs with this guy who is a songwriter from my school.” So I would always pull her into projects. Every day I had a song for her—
Did Beyoncé always have an incredible voice?
Always. She was always a star. We went to a very small school, and the first day of school, every girl from the freshman to the seniors hated her!
Long story short, me and couple of friends of mine ended up doing a couple of records with her, Kelly [Rowland], LaToya, and LeTavia on Destiny Fulfilled and they were just signed to Columbia at the time. It was my first opportunity to be in the studio with a group that was signed. I knew then that that was my “destiny.” Of course, before I was in groups and was thinking I was going to be in the next Boyz II Men, but when I met [Destiny's Child] I realized that I wanted to be a producer.
Do you still keep in touch with them?
Yeah, through the years we always kept in contact. LaToya is a dear friend still to this day. LaTavia had a baby, I saw her recently…. Last time I saw Beyoncé was when she just was about to have Blue Ivy. I went to the concert and went backstage to talk to her.
What is it like when you go back and see Beyoncé now?
For me, it was something we all knew, so it’s not surprising to see her be who she is.
Does she thank you for putting together her first project?
I actually thank her because she had the record deal! She was the one who was badgering her father everyday like, “Listen, we got to work with this guy. He is incredible.” I got to give her props every chance that I can– she is incredible!